Bug Soup Anyone?
by Chibi Rose Angel
Summary: Just exactly how did Raphael acquire his hatred of bugs?
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Notes**_: After writing There's No Such Thing As A Happy Ending, I figured you guys could use a break from all of that angst. So I decided to try my hand at another humor story except this time I decided to make it a humor story where the guys were children. It's so hard to find kid turtle stories! We need more of them I tell you! Originally, this was supposed to be a cute and humorous Halloween story but as you'll soon see, the story didn't exactly turn out that way. With this particular story, the guys are eight years old. I wanted to make them young but not too young. To be honest though, I'm a bit worried that they might sound "too grown up" but I really did try to make them as young as I could. BTW, italics will denote character thoughts.

_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own anything TMNT related or anything else pertaining to the TMNT franchise. This story was merely written for entertainment purposes only.

Raphael's point of view

It was the middle of the night, and I had to use the bathroom. Roughly pulling off my covers, I hopped out of bed and almost ran there.

_I KNEW I shouldn't have let Mikey talk me into drinking three glasses of water instead of one glass before we went to sleep._

As I pulled on the door handle, something didn't feel quite right to me, but I brushed it aside. There was only one thing on my mind, so whatever it was could wait, for all I cared.

After relieving myself, I washed my hands and was just about to open the door when that nagging feeling came back. Rolling my eyes in frustration, I tried to think of what was wrong, but I came up with nothing. It took me a little while, but after carefully listening for the sounds I'd normally hear while taking a trip to the bathroom, I realized one important sound was missing.

The sound of Splinter's walking cane.

Normally, if one of us got up in the middle of the night, he would be in our rooms before we even had the chance to get out of bed yet. But this time, he hadn't come to my room, and he hadn't been outside waiting for me to finish using the bathroom, either.

It was weird, but most of the time, Splinter just had a way of knowing what we were doing and when we were doing, it no matter what time of the day or night it was. It was like he had some kind of sixth sense or something.

I slowly peered outside the bathroom door, hoping that he'd be right out in the hall waiting for me. When I didn't see or hear him, I started to get a bit worried. Not that I'd ever tell Splinter that I was concerned, but this wasn't like him at all.

Could he have left us here alone? I mean, I know he had to go out and get supplies for us, but to leave us alone during the night? Normally, he hated to leave us alone for even a minute (especially considering how accident prone Mikey was), but what else was I supposed to think?

I closed the door behind me and silently crept out of the bathroom, all the while trying to remind myself that the others were sleeping. Using the long and spacious hallway's ceiling light as my guide, I walked to his room.

"Master Splinter?" I asked softly, hoping to get a response.

Silence…

Clearing my throat, I called again, this time a little louder, "Master Splinter?"

When I didn't get an answer again, I could practically feel the lump growing in my throat. I grabbed the door handle with every intention of going into his room, but then I remembered that Splinter said you were supposed to knock before entering someone else's room.

So I briefly knocked on the door and turned the doorknob, still holding out hope that he was sleeping, sitting in his favorite chair reading or maybe even meditating. Even as I opened the door, however, I knew that it was unlikely for him to be asleep, considering that I was awake and out of bed no less.

Once I stepped into his room, my heart almost stopped. Splinter wasn't asleep, reading or meditating. He wasn't even in his room!

Quickly closing the door, I ran back to my room to gather a few things. Flipping on the old and worn lamp switch near my bed, I dropped to my knees and quickly dug around under my bed for a flashlight. My fingers brushed against something hard, and I quickly grabbed hold of the item.

Bringing the object from under the bed, I was a bit irritated to see it was just one of Mikey's action figures. I threw it across the room angrily as I stuck my hand back under the bed. That flashlight just had to be underneath here somewhere!

Again, my hand touched something. As I was pulling it out, I kept silently repeating to myself that it had better be my flashlight. If not, then Mikey's toy was getting ready to have a friend.

When I got a good look at the object I was holding, I had to refrain from screaming. Instead of my flashlight, I had ended up finding something else that belonged to Mikey. It was a rotten, half-eaten apple.

Glaring at the piece of fruit as if it were the cause of my current problem, I calmly walked over to the trash bin and threw it away. Disgustedly, I stared at my hand and then a thought hit me.

_Now I know what Mikey does with the "healthy" snacks Splinter gives him. Oh, I can use this to my advantage! _

Smirking ever so slightly, I knew I would have the upper hand next time Mikey wanted to rat me out about something. My happiness was quickly forgotten when I thought about Splinter again.

Something bad might have happened to him, and it was up to me to go and find him. Shaking my head, this time I got on my stomach and dove headfirst underneath my bed. I was going to find that darn flashlight if it killed me.

Crawling underneath the bed as much as I could, I started to feel around for whatever else could possibly be hidden beneath it. Every time my hand touched something, I pitched it behind me, hoping it'd come out from under the bed.

After having patted the floor a few more times, I was satisfied that the flashlight must have been one of the things I'd thrown. Wiggling backwards, I managed to pull myself from under the bed so I could take a look at what I had found.

Now that I was looking at the selection, which consisted of some Lego pieces, a tablet, a black ball and two small red race cars, the urge to scream was getting more urgent by the minute. After all of that, my stupid flashlight was STILL nowhere to be seen. So in a huff, I stalked out of my room and right into the kitchen.

If I couldn't find my flashlight, then I'd take the one that Splinter kept in the kitchen. After having tripped and stumbled over various items in the pitch darkness, I finally made it to the kitchen. Grabbing a chair from the table, I pushed and pulled it to the wall where I knew the light switch to be.

Once I had the chair against the wall, I got on top of it and fumbled around for a bit looking for the light, until finally my fingers found it. When the light came on and I saw my flashlight sitting by the small stack of clean dishes on the counter top, I could have cried.

Ah, well, I was just that happy to have found a flashlight. Getting off of my chair, I quickly dragged it along with me, hoping that I wasn't making too much noise. After all, the last thing I needed was to have one of the others wake up…

Pushing that particular unwanted thought to the back of my mind, I grabbed the flash light from the counter top and jumped down from the chair. I could always put the chair back in its right place when I got back.

Now that I finally had a flashlight, I went to the refrigerator and grabbed the half eaten pack of cookies from one of the shelves. I knew we rarely got to have sweet stuff, but this was for an emergency. While I searched for Splinter, I could squish the cookies and use the crumbs for a trail. So in case I got lost, I could always just follow the trail of cookies back home.

The others wouldn't be _**that**_ mad about not having cookies for a little while. At least, I knew Leo and Don would get over it, but Mikey was another story entirely. He'd be the one to whine and complain nonstop that I'd wasted food, but it couldn't be helped. Besides he'd live. It's not like he hadn't gone without cookies before anyway.

After closing the refrigerator door, I walked out of the kitchen without turning the lights off. When I finally made it to the front door of the lair, I just stood there for a second, staring at the door. I had never actually opened the door by myself, but Splinter was just on the other side. He probably…no, I _**knew**_ he needed me!

Before I had the chance to figure out what I was going to do about the door, though, a hand landed on my shoulder. I jumped slightly, but then quickly spun around and brought the flashlight up into the air.

Nobody got away with scaring me!

Right as I blindly swung the flashlight, I vaguely heard a muffled noise before the person moved away from me. Then the next thing I knew, my flashlight wasgone, snatched right out of my hand. Backing up against the door, for a moment I couldn't think… until I was suddenly blinded by the bright light coming from the flashlight.

"Raphie, what are you doing?"

I had to shield my eyes from the light as I whispered fiercely, "Mikey, I can't see! Turn that off!"

I heard him giggle before he switched it off. The room was now dark and silent again, until…

"So, Raphie, where are you going? You weren't trying to go topside by yourself, were you? And how come you've got cookies with you?"

Rolling my eyes, I was almost tempted to say something mean but then I caught myself. Even though I hadn't planned on getting caught so soon, there was nothing I could do about it unless I played dumb…

_Why not, it just might work._

"What are you doing up?" I muttered grumpily.

"I was sleeping, but I woke up 'cause I kept hearing funny noises."

I could practically hear the frown in his voice, but I didn't feel completely sorry for him. It's not entirely my fault that he woke up.

"Raphie…"

"What?" I grumbled.

"You're not really going to leave, are you?" he asked with a slight tremble to his voice.

Sighing quietly, I took a seat by the door. "Course not."

"Good! 'Cause if you had left, I would have followed you and brought you back," he answered happily.

I had to resist the urge to laugh. The mere thought of little Mikey following after me in the dark and dingy sewers was very amusing. Knowing him, he would have gotten lost within the first ten minutes of being outside the lair.

"Yeah, right. You're the only one who still sleeps with a nightlight, so I know there's no way you'd be able to go in the sewers by yourself."

Mikey stomped his foot and flicked the flashlight back on. He shined it over at me, probably so he could see where I was, but thankfully not in my face again. He took a seat next to me, cut the light off again and for a while we sat in comfortable silence.

"I could too keep up with you," he mumbled childishly, breaking the silence.

I didn't bother answering him, because I was still a bit edgy considering that I didn't know where Splinter was, and now I had to worry about Mikey. If I tried to leave, there was a good chance he'd want to tag along, too. And I couldn't have that.

Then, without warning, the small but ever-growing devious side of me decided that I would have to resort to trickery if I was going to get rid of Mikey. After all, Splinter needed my help.

"Hey, Mikey, why don't you go back to bed? It's gotta be more comfortable than sitting out here on the floor," I offered kindly.

I heard him yawn rather loudly and could tell he was stretching. Imagine my utter horror, when instead of listening to me, he curled up next to me and pulled something soft over the both of us.

"No," he murmured.

"Why not?! You know we gotta train in the morning and if you stay out here with me, you're going to be all stiff and sore. Then you're going to blame me and try to weasel your way out of practice like the last time," I said, my patience clearly getting thinner by the second.

He snickered, obviously remembering the last stunt he tried to pull. Master Splinter hadn't been too happy about his so called **"**illness,**"** but I was the one who got blamed for him being sick. Good thing, Splinter wasn't one to fall for such tricks often, though.

"If I go to bed, you're going to have a cool adventure. Then when I ask you about it tomorrow, you're going to pretend like nothing happened." He pouted, looking like the very picture of an annoying little brother.

"So in other words, I'm basically stuck with you until you fall asleep or get bored," I said flatly as I felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. Actually, it was more like I could feel the veins on my forehead throbbing in irritation. And if I didn't know any better, for a second I could have sworn that my left eye twitched ever so slightly.

"Yep!"

Oh, how I hated that cheery voice.

Hanging my head in defeat, I just sat there with Mikey's blanket draped over me. He was a persistent little bugger,I'd give him that. But one way or the other, I had to get rid of him, so I did the only thing I could think of.

I decided to bribe him with food.

"Mikey, tell you what. If you go back to bed then you can have my dessert for the rest of the week."

At that point, everything was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop a mile away. Next thing I knew, Mikey was hugging me happily, although it felt more like he was crushing my bones. When he showed no desire to let go of me, I wiggled one arm free and awkwardly patted him on the shoulder.

Who knew he'd get so worked up about dessert…oh, wait, that's a given. I should have known to expect that particular reaction from him…

"If I go back to bed, you promise you won't do anything dumb?" he whispered softly.

"Oh, come on, Mikey! When have I ever done anything dumb?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

He just tightened his hold on me before finally letting go and handing me back the flashlight. I turned it on so he would have some light to get back to his room, but as I watched him go, I felt a little guilty.

With his slow walk, drooping shoulders and blanket trailing slowly behind him, he looked so sad. Why on earth was he so worried about me going out by myself? He couldn't have possibly thought that I was really going to get into some kind of trouble, could he?

Sighing for the umpteenth time tonight, I got up and took one last look at the door before going into the kitchen and putting the cookies away. I was probably going to regret this, but once I left the kitchen, I went to go and find Mikey. As much as I wanted to go and look for Splinter, I couldn't do it. Not after seeing Mikey looking so scared and worried.

Falling into step besides him, I didn't bother speaking. He looked over at me and I could have sworn I saw a little smile on his face. He couldn't possibly be up to something? Nah, it was too late at night for him to be trying one of those tricks of his.

We both kept walking and ended up going straight past his room. Now instead of being in Mikey's room, we were standing in front of the door to my room. I looked at Mikey curiously, but he just opened the door and went inside. Following after him, I watched as he sat down on my bed and then curled up, blanket and all.

"And you're not going back to your room, because..?" I asked, letting my question linger on purpose.

"Cause I'm sleepy, and I wanna stay in your room for the night," he mumbled before burying his face into my pillow.

I could feel my left eye twitching again as I walked to the bed. Grabbing my pillow from underneath his head, I glared at him before turning my attention to my pillow. He might have gotten drool or eye crust on it. And I for one _**didn't**_ want to sleep on a pillow that had any sort of liquid or skin on it that came from Mikey.

"Out, Mikey," I said, pointing towards the door.

He shook his head as he snuggled deep under his blanket and pulled my covers over him, as well. Then he rolled over onto his side and curled up with his back to me.

"Mikey…" I growled as I stalked to my bed.

I was just about to roughly grab him by the shoulder and _**kick **_him out of my room when I heard his soft snoring. My hand stopped just mere inches from his prone figure. A victorious smile spread across my face as I pumped a fist into the air. This is exactly what I had wanted!

Tiptoeing out of my room as quietly as I could, I went back to the kitchen, snatched the cookies and quickly made a hasty exist out of the lair. I couldn't chance Mikey waking up again, or worse, having Leo catch me sneaking out of the lair.

That would have been the absolute worse punishment imaginable.

Walking away from the lair door, I started to make a trail of cookie crumbs. I was careful to break the cookies into small pieces, because if I made them too big, I would run out of cookies really fast.

Once I was sure I was far enough away from the lair, I switched on the flashlight and kept walking. I was going to find Splinter and bring him back home, and there was no way I was going to let anyone or anything stop me.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Authors Notes: **_I didn't have enough room to mention this last time but I really hope I didn't disappoint you guys with this particular story. Before anyone asks why this was such a short story and if I plan on adding onto it, then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. This story was supposed to be short but somehow it morphed from a one shot into a two shot. Instead of me holding out on this last chapter though, I decided to go ahead and post both chapters rather than just one at a time. BTW, italics will denote character thoughts. And before I forget, a big, special and eternally grateful _**THANK YOU**_ goes out to both Diedre and Midnight Heir. Both of them were kind enough to look over this piece for me. Go check out some of their works okay? Thanks for reading and enjoy!

_**Disclaimer: **_I don't own anything TMNT related or anything else pertaining to the TMNT franchise. This story was merely written for entertainment purposes only.

**Several Hours Later**

Master Splinter was barely inside the lair when three little green blurs shot forward and wrapped themselves around his legs. Had it not been for his quick reflexes, he would have dropped the supplies he had managed to get tonight.

Looking down at his sons, he couldn't help smiling at them, but his amusement soon faded when he noticed one of them was missing. And of all sons, it was Raphael.

Splinter's eyes became wide with fright. He had expected to come home, put away their supplies and possibly enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasted, and instead he had come home to find one of his children missing.

"Where is Raphael?" he questioned firmly, while handing one bag of supplies to Leonardo and the other bag to Donatello.

Both turtles released their hold on him, went to the kitchen, placed the bags down carelessly, and then hurried back into the main area of the lair. Taking their places beside Mikey, all of them started talking at once.

"Mikey said he--I couldn't sleep because I-- he kept hearing weird noses so then he-- I got out of bed to see what was wrong and then I-- he thought-- he heard Raph in the kitchen. So then I saw Raph with the cookies-- they took the cookies…"

Mikey whipped his head in Leo's direction. "You're not getting the story right!"

"Am too!" Leo cried defensively. "You and Raph had the cookies and then you two went to Raph's room…"

"I told you that Raph put the cookies back in the kitchen and we went to his room."

"The cookies weren't in the kitchen, though, Mikey," Donnie argued back.

"And you said you went to sleep, but when you woke up; Raph wasn't in his room and..."

"Enough!" Splinter said firmly, thus halting their quarrel.

"But…" all three turtles cried.

Splinter held up a paw and closed his eyes. All three of the turtles hung their heads in dejection, knowing that when he did that, it was the end of a discussion.

"Now is not the time to bicker amongst each other. I will go and retrieve Raphael, but the three of you must stay here."

"But, Master Splinter, you don't know where he went and…"

"Leonardo, be that as it may, I cannot chance losing one of you, either. Now, I do not want any of you following after me and _**do not**_ open the door for anyone. I will return shortly with your brother," he said, once again leaving the lair.

**With Raphael**

"Of all the stupid, no good, rotten…" he grumbled under his breath as he stared at the empty cookie package.

He viciously crumpled the package into a ball and threw it into the murky sewer water. Looking around for a moment, he was sorely tempted to just turn around and go back home. If he could find his way in the dark, that is…

Yes, not only was he out of cookies, but the flashlight's battery had just decided to give out. Oh, this was shaping up to be a night he'd never forget.

Rolling his eyes in disgust, he put his hand on his forehead, as if that would give him some sort of wonderful and enlightening insight about his current predicament. After a few moments of staying in this position and coming up with nothing, however, he began to pace back and forth.

"Just how in the world am I going to get out of this? I don't have any more cookies, the flashlight's gone, and I don't even know how far away from the lair I am! Could things get any worse!" he fumed angrily to himself as he momentarily stopped his pacing.

Plink. Plink. Plink.

He looked up just in time to feel another droplet fall onto him. Quickly moving aside, he didn't even want to think about what had just fallen onto him. For all he knew, it could have been sewage water from a pipe, the saliva of a rat or maybe even a snake.

Eyes widening considerably, he furiously began wiping off his shoulder in hopes of ridding of himself of the horrid liquid. To anyone else, it would have made for a hilarious sight to see. The self-proclaimed "turtle of steel" was freaking out over a few droplets of water hitting his shoulder.

Once he was sure every last bit was gone, he breathed out a big sigh of relief.

"I should have just stayed HOME!"

His petulant words echoed off the walls of the sewers as he folded his arms across his plastron. Then he promptly turned around and began to head back towards his home.

At least, he hoped he was going the right way.

**With Splinter**

Splinter was worried, concerned, perplexed and even agitated. He knew that his sons were often too curious for their own good, but he had never expected one of them to go this far.

Sighing heavily, he continued his brisk walk, hoping that nothing terrible had befallen his son. But those nagging thoughts just wouldn't leave him alone! All of the possible what-if scenarios continued to busily swim around in his head.

He could have been captured by a sewer maintenance worker, or he could have fallen into the water and been carried out to the junction pipe that emptied the contents of the sewers. Or he could have wandered into an abandoned part of the sewer systems, and now he was all alone.

Worse of all, what if he was severely hurt…

Oh, the possibilities were endless!

As his worry began to increase tenfold, Splinter couldn't stop himself as he broke out into a run. Every so often, he would call out for Raphael, but each time he would be met with silence.

Ears flattened against his head, Splinter fervently hoped that when he found his son all would be well. Because then, he would be sure the boy got a firm lecture followed by a severe punishment.

Meanwhile, Raph slowly trudged along in the sewers, perfectly content to just continue brooding. He was wet from having accidentally slipped in a puddle of water, he was hungry, he was cold, and he was sure that something or maybe even someone was watching him.

Things were not going very well for him, thus making him decide that the next time Splinter didn't come back to the lair for a really long time, he wouldn't be making any sort of effort to go and _**rescue**_ him.

"If I had woken up Leo or even Don, maybe I wouldn't be in this mess. But no, stubborn old me just had to go and try to do this on my own! Serves me right!" he muttered to himself as he continued walking, slight shivers wracking his squat figure.

As he continued to tremble, Raph fought back the urge to cry. He would NOT break down like a little baby. He was eight years old and that meant he was a big boy. And after all, big boys didn't cry. Sure they pouted, whined, complained and had temper tantrums, but they _**never **_cried.

Continuing on his miserable way, he nearly jumped out of his shell when he heard a slight hissing noise. Eyes scanning every possible direction, he was hesitant to move an inch. For all he knew, a snake could be coiled up right in front of him and he wouldn't even know until it was too late.

Gulping and doing his absolute best not to focus on the sound, he just kept walking. Scurrying sounded to his left, causing him to quicken his pace just a little. From behind him, he could have sworn he heard howls.

"It's just your imagination, it's just your imagination, it's just your imagination…" Raph began to chant over and over as he began to speed up his gait even more.

_Damn Mikey and those horror flicks! I should have known better than to watch them with him when Splinter left the lair. _

The last straw came when something big and furry fell on top of his head. He threw his hands up in the air and screamed for all he was worth. Jumping around wildly, he began to pat and swat his head desperately, hoping to knock off whatever had just landed on him.

For a moment, he was sure he had gotten the despicable creature off of him, but when he felt hairy legs scurrying across his right arm, he began rubbing his arms up and down frantically.

Not being able to take it anymore, he threw caution to the wind and ran blindly through the sewers, scared out of his mind. Apparently, being alone in the sewers with no light or Splinter had spooked him severely.

Splinter's ears perked up as he heard frantic footsteps further up ahead. Using the shadows to his advantage, he merely waited for the figure to come to him. As the frightened person shot past him, he cautiously sniffed at the air.

Relief flooded through him as he recognized the person to be none other than his missing son. "Raphael?" he called out softly.

Stopping for just a brief moment, Raph whipped his head in the direction of the voice he was so familiar with. Swallowing back the emotions that were bubbling up inside of him, Raph barely managed to squeak out, "Master Splinter?"

Splinter came forward almost instantly and scooped him up. He hugged him tightly, almost afraid that Raphael would disappear if he let go of him for even a second. Moments of silence passed until Splinter finally addressed his wayward son.

"What on earth possessed you to leave the safety and comfort of the lair while I was away? You know better than that, Raphael!"

Sniffling a few times, Raph just buried his head into Splinter's shoulder, incoherently mumbling a few words. Splinter wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he heard the words 'disappearance, worry and scared,' but now was not the time to be discussing such things.

Raphael felt cool, almost clammy, and the last thing Splinter needed was for him to go to sleep. After all, he had to get him home and check him for wounds, bites or scrapes. Not only that, but he wanted to get him back to where he belonged: home.

Carefully cradling the distraught child in his arms, he walked back to the lair, never once saying another word. Every so often, he would hear a sniffle come from Raphael or feel him shiver slightly. At one point, Raphael even snuggled further into Splinter's robes.

Once the doors to the lair became visible, Splinter quickly went forward and opened the door. Swiftly closing it behind himself, he hurried to his room. Luckily for him, the others had fallen asleep on the old couch waiting for his return.

Now having gotten Raphael home, he quickly lit some candles in his room and placed the child onto his bed. He wasted no time in checking the boy for any injuries and was extremely relieved when he could find none.

Leaving the room for only a moment, he came back with a towel and began to gently wipe away the excess moisture he'd felt on the child from earlier. Having done that, he then proceeded to pull his blanket over the child, staring at him in a mixture of relief, gratefulness and love.

He'd been so terribly frightened about his child's welfare that his mind had tortured him in more ways than seemingly possible. Sitting down next to the bed, he placed a calming hand onto the boy's forehead and stroked it gently.

Upon feeling his father's touch, Raph had to close his eyes. He didn't want to cry again, and he didn't want to look weak in front of his father, either, but he was fighting a losing battle. A few tears leaked out from his eyes as his father continued with his gentle administrations.

"Raphael, it is okay. I am not angry with you," he spoke calmly so as not to upset the child any further.

"Yes, you are. You're going to give me a long lecture and a spanking for leaving the lair unsupervised. Then you're going to punish me…" Raph whispered fearfully.

Splinter, having to bite back an ironic laugh, merely continued to massage the boy's forehead. "Raphael, look at me, please."

Reluctantly, very reluctantly, Raph opened his eyes and stared at Splinter. His eyes were glistening with unshed tears, but one look at Splinter's calming and peaceful visage helped to ease his fears.

"I must admit that at first, I was very angry with you for having disobeyed me. However, now I am just grateful that nothing happened to you while you were gone. Please, do not ever scare me like that again."

Looking away from his father, the tears finally came forth. "I'm sorry, Master Splinter. I didn't mean to leave, but when I woke up and you weren't here, I just thought something bad had happened to you. Cause I know you usually leave the lair after you're sure we're asleep, but when I noticed that you weren't back yet, I just panicked and thought the worst."

Chuckling softly, Splinter pulled Raphael close to him. "It is all right. However, you will still be punished, just not tonight. Now get some rest."

Nodding sleepily, he closed his eyes and went to sleep, taking comfort in the fact that his father was now with him. Smiling softly, Splinter removed his hand from Raphael's forehead and stood up. He bent down, kissed his forehead and then left the room.

Upon entering the main area of the lair, he spotted his other children sound asleep. Picking up one child at a time, he proceeded to carry each of them to their rooms. After getting them situated and tucked in, he kissed each boy on the forehead and then went back to his room.

**The Next Day**

It was morning and all of the boys were standing side by side in the makeshift dojo, waiting for Master Splinter. One of the boys, however, kept scratching at a huge red bump on his right arm.

His brothers, not being ones to miss an opportunity to tease their sibling, went out of their way to comment on the ugly sight.

"Hey, Raphie, what's that on your arm?" Mikey questioned innocently.

"Yeah, it looks like something bit you," Donnie offered.

"It might be contagious," Leo replied gravely as he backed away from Raph.

Donnie and Mikey followed his lead, which prompted Raph to roll his eyes and huff in irritation. "For your information, I don't know what it is and it's not contagious! And, yeah, something bit me, but I don't know…"

Noticing that his brother had stopped in mid sentence, Donnie raised an eye ridge and asked, "Uh, Raph, you okay?"

Without warning, Raph's eyes went wide as he ran out of the dojo, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Master Splinter! My arm! My arm! It's gonna fall off!"

His brothers exchanged puzzled looks with one another, thinking that their temperamental brother had finally lost it. They were very much relieved when they heard Splinter merely chuckle and say, "Raphael, it is nothing but a harmless insect bite. Rest assured that your arm will not fall off."

"If this is what an insect's bite does to you then I HATE em!"


End file.
